Federal Jobs Report, The Biden Hangover, Tractor Secrets

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We ought to begin with the federal jobs report, first thing.  We expected that the market would bounce around a bit in here, but honestly it has been quite the week so far.  In fact, at the close Thursday, the volatility index (VIX) was at 24.65 which is a far cry from the 15’s where it had been running recently.  Are people afraid?  Well, actually, now that you mentioned it…

OK, so here’s what just popped:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in February, and the unemployment rate
changed little at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment trended up in health care, financial activities, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance. Federal government employment declined.

When we look at the CES Birth-Death Model (essentially: guesstimated job creation) it looked like this.

And then we have the database.  And this is where we get into the question of “How do you want to view the world?”  One way is to take the “headline number” but the other is to use the more (rational) household data. We are drawn to the database number; laziness and sloth on my part, perhaps? (Go ahead and throw in ugly while you’re at it…)

I’m trying to figure out how we got 1.7 million new jobs in the database…look at Dec 24 and today’s number.  Odd, huh?  After the number, markets went into playing “Flatliners….”

Yes, times could be better, but there’s still a lot of work to be done in this old country of ours.  And we won’t have the necessary dough for reinvestment in our own infrastructure if we keep subsidizing other countries.  A reader called me out on this the other day, suggesting that it’s not really a subsidy.

Well, except it IS money that can’t be spent here – and it’s money that went to America’s trading partners at record levels.  The “management question” is “How do we dial back spending without a recession?”

If you come up with a solid answer to that, give the White House a ring.  Their ideas (tariffs) fly in the face of “free trade” but remember “free” did set up the nightmare we’re in. Namely, the export of all jobs to “least cost labor centers.”  (It’s why China is interested in Africa and South America – because there are people in those regions who make even less than the Chinese.  And they’d like to build a middle class someday…but you know all this, I suppose.

So back to the jobs report.  Not horrific, not great, but given the weak ADP reading and the bump in yesterday’s Challenger numbers, can you really be surprised?  Well, a bit, maybe…

The Biden Hangover

We seem to have the makings of a pretty good legal team, around here. Beginning with a hat-tip to reader Hank who spied this gem on ZeroHedge: Could A Bombshell Discovery Render All of Biden’s Presidential Actions ‘Null and Void’? .

But it gets even better as another reader (JR) continues with some solid “extensible thinking” on point:

“Did Biden’s staff use autopen executive orders to disburse money to NGO’s ? If so, then any judicial review of Trump’s actions against such disbursements based on separation of powers would be invalid, and insurrectional. Trump can reverse any prior executive orders with a stroke of his pen, including secret executive orders. And Trump can declassify them on the spot. My guess is that the real problem will be figuring out what documents were signed, and where the money went.
I don’t think that it will be possible to prosecute the autopen mutineers with the courts packed with Stalinist cronies.”

Still, it’s a dandy point of ponder and certainly keeps “Getting up in the morning to watch the latest serialized version of Life in near real-time, worthwhile.

Trump-Watch

We have no idea how American media survived without a president previous who was so intent on owning just about all of the news flow in-country, but here’s the morning short list:

  • While it’s true (for now) that Trump puts new limits on Elon Musk’s authority amid backlash to DOGE cuts, we think it’s also true that Musk will likely seize on the auto-pen – Biden story and maybe claw-back some cuts.  Trump doesn’t like reversals, though, and his idea of governance doesn’t involve running the steam roller backwards.
  • The balancing budget hyperinflation through tariffs is a slow-motion treatment of the patient (America).  But you know who isn’t patient?  China vows retaliation against US for Trump-imposed tariffs. China wants a middle class sooner than later, and keeping up sales to the deep-pocketed American consumer works, despite the long-term risk that we will “stiff them” on all the American assets they own.  Closely related will be the Consumer Debt report from the Fed this afternoon.  We expect that American consumers – despite all the liberal hype – will keep on spending and might have even increased spending fearing higher prices with all this inflation talk.  So keep an eye on the final hour of markets today when that report lands.
  • A pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran is still in the cards and Trump remains a staunch ally of Israel in all this.  Latest evidence of his leanings are read in the “between the lines” tea leaves as US will back Israel action against Gaza if talks fail: Witkoff.  Israel will want to knock over Iran in advance so it will be clear to more thoughtful Arab nations that peace or war is a pretty simple choice.
  • And our notion that Trump is the consummate media narcissist who has to interject himselve in, well by-God everything seems born out in Trump Says MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace — and Rachel Maddow — Should Be ‘Forced To Resign’ After Wallace’s ‘Disgraceful’ Comments About Child Cancer Survivor. If people are dumb enough to watch hate-mongers, I don’t think Trump needs to make converts to clear thinking.  Followers will come around, usually, only when they figure out they’re being duped… People who watch the likes of (above) are likely not on any Nobel short-lists, if you follow.

Still, we are reminded “for Whom the Bill tolls” in: ‘The Democratic Party is on the Verge of Collapse’: Bill O’Reilly. Sometimes the historians get things right but you just have to be patient with the herd.  The truth keeps leaking:  Emerald Robinson ?? on X: “You know that America’s elections are rigg*d because anyone who tries to audit the software code is arrested. Anyone who tries to inspect the machines is attacked. Anyone who tries to count ballots by hand is sued. Anyone who tries to discuss it is banned.”  Yep, and?

Now into the Noise

To prep for this, you might want to have barf bags, ear plugs, and a head-shake at the ready…

BS as in Beijing here:  China putting on the fake mantel of righteousness as Major powers should not bully the weak, China’s top diplomat says.  So running almost daily ops against Taiwan and practicing for a blockage of the (still independent last time we looked) other China is…um…not bullying?  Not enough evidence of Beijing bullshit?  Try China boosts its defence spending by 7% after threatening US with ‘any war’ amid Trump’s tariff roll-out… so how do the two superpowers’ armed forces measure up?  Well, might as well get their middle class used to getting bench over, too, right?

Sometimes in the news flow, we catch something that reveals when an Emperor has no threads on.  An example as Unexploded WWII bomb in Paris halts Eurostar travel to London and trains to northern France. Now, what we find interesting is that Europe is all full of blank checks and bluster in support of Ukraine AND talking about how the world’s problems will be forthcoming from confrontation with Russia.  But, um, notice what one piece of ordinance from 80-years ago did.  Is Europe, you know, really ready for the Big Boy pants?  Spooked by Trump and Putin, Europe rushes to rearm.  Yeah, have fun with that.

Bitcoin took a bounce off the $85,000 level this week.  As?  Bitcoin prices fall after Donald Trump’s executive order for strategic bitcoin reserve disappoints market.  We used to have a saying in sales “The easy guy to “sell” was always a salesman.”  And so, it must be with Trump and the crypto con. Most grownup economists (who eschew wallets and form 1040 check boxes) can see the bubble with nothing inside from miles away.  But – and in a sense BTC is a riff off Trading Stamps in the Great Depression, maybe if you can plaster a hard drive full of crypto you could trade it all in for a toaster some day…  That’s where we see the Rhyme of 1929 leading. Just not YET though:  Says g3:

“By 1929, trading stamps were well-established but not yet at their peak popularity, which would come later in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1920s, companies like S&H were active, and stamps were offered by various retailers, including grocery stores and gas stations. However, their use was somewhat overshadowed by the economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, when consumers had more disposable income and credit was increasingly available. Merchants used trading stamps as a competitive edge, but they were just one of many promotional strategies at the time.”

Extensible thinkers are always looking for the likely migration pathing into Future.

Inquiring minds want to know: How does someone become a multi-multi-multi millionaire while “serving the people?” Elon Musk on X: “Where did Senator Karen get $67 million?” Maybe if Congress didn’t have their own retirement system (Put ’em in Social Security with the rest of us) and if they didn’t have exemptions from insider trading rules, and….and….

Still own a Tesla?  Authorities arrest Oregon trans extremist accused of firebombing, shooting up Tesla dealership in Salem. Must be terrible to be a dem and believe the climate narrative these days and then have the new center of the party go “direct action” like this….  We’d say Life’s a bitch, but in order not to offend, we’re transitioning to Life’s a bastard...  (Too early for rehab?)

And perhaps to wrap the week, a note on how the “butterfly has fluttered by”?  Butterfly populations declining rapidly in U.S. with 22% disappearing in 2 decades, study finds.

Around the Ranch: Tractor Secrets

I was crashing and thrashing out on the western 12 (acres) Thursday.  Down by the headwaters of what could become Lake George, at some point.  Neighbor is thinking about letting me buy a gully which is an acre in size and which turns into more gully on my side (which is down hill a ways).

But it was muddy, and I got the tractor stuck.  I’m reminded to “learn you” how to un-stuck a tractor in deep mud.

The answer is simple:  Extend the loader bucket about 2-3 feet forward and then lower it into the ground. Push it well down in there.  Now, while gently applying power to all four wheels (left heel engaged the differential lock on the rear tires), you  roll the bucket down.  Done right (and patiently) you  can get a tractor out of about damn near anything.  Only took about 5-minutes.

Of course now, having thrown mud all over, I have to pressure-wash the tractor today.  Neatnik?  Nope. There’s a cutoff switch that turns off the hydrostatic transmission now when I go forward or back.  Mud, induced problem, more than likely.

Secretly, we have been looking at cash stacking up and I am thinking about a new tractor.  This one is more than 20-years old and I have beaten the living snot out of it.  Paid $15,000 for it new (with some implements and delivery) back in 2004.  But a little bigger bucket with a couple of more horses (30-35 would be nicer) is tempting. Current one is only 24 horses – and that’s only a theory.

On the other hand, at 76, do I really have much use for a new tractor?

Can I get back to you next week? Dementia could make this kind of decision-making a lot easier, you know!

Off to work with Elaine today on putting in a drip irrigation system in the lean-to greenhouse.  Don’t mind most “farmerly chores” but the repetitive stuff gets boring. And the whole point of ADHD is never doing the same thing twice, if you can avoid it.  Why, I have ADHD so bad that if I even begin to think I might have to do something a second time, I’ll balk at doing it in the first place!

Where’s my recliner?

Write when you get rich,

George@Ure.net

70 thoughts on “Federal Jobs Report, The Biden Hangover, Tractor Secrets”

  2. I’m certain you have priced used tractors. I built my first house for less than what my 10 year old JD is valued at.

    Stay safe. 73

    • Same here, first house in ’63, with improvements, no more than 8K. My 2005 Kioti CK30 is worth more than that now..

  3. President Trump made a big display of signing exec orders and having them read as he did it, seems to be a chess move, that could boomerang on those who used Biden’s auto pen, without his knowing, either from dementia or just plain behind his back.
    Speaker Johnson tells the story,,, I smell someboby’s ass is in trouble, we will see how this plays out, could be treasonous
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMysvzwjm94

    is Canada a sovereign country??? or a renamed colony of the CROWN, with a pretend government,,, who has title?
    remember when Trump walked, by her invitation to show who is BOSS,
    did some titles change hands, but not yet announced,,,
    remember Trump’s #45 office giving exec orders about property and human trafficking,,, ya ya, so far just hopeum, but shit is hitting the fan and it is now in open descussion about being #51 state,,, royal danish members maybe in deep dodo also, in the Greenland talks, just wonderings by the tard of Newhart

    enjoy the movies,,, as the demons howl in their discontent

    • they ‘demons” are only whining, so far, when they HOWL during their exit from this plane of existence – You will hear the roar and howl.

      Should be just awful – cant wait, really looking to forward it.

      *Takes a very looooooong time for an imortals” Soul to transition, without “Assistance”…years. Dead bodies will “move” years, hundreds years after death of imortals body. Big reason some of these ancient legends were so revered down thru the ages – they were “powerful” even after physical death.

      Same squatta is happening above – its picking up in frequency so to speak – on the upswing..Moonular.

      Who Ya gonna Call ? no not ghostbusters, I would suggest the “friendly” Good ET’s.

      RU Telepathic, Can We be? – think about it

  4. Tractor speak:

    […] “How do we dial back spending without a recession?” If you come up with a solid answer to that, give the White House a ring […]

    Were I in charge, or able to chat up Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick it makes sense to me to declare the last couple years a “rolling” recession and let the chips fall where they may (ahem, blame the other guy).

    Lots of rules are being fudged in data work. The math is what it is so when BLS U6 Table A-15 spells out the (recent history of) employment, well, there’s wiggle room. Revisions settle the score.

    I’m not sure you are aiming high enough for tractor HP to move the needle there Tex. Go big or keep what brung ya. I have two aging tractors, the oldest being a Wheel Horse beast. Lot’s of attachments.

    Your description of how to extricate a stuck machine is something I failed to convey to a friend in central IN. He’s got 20-something acres but too citified to have done much. I’m two gen. off the farm.

    The first large farm tractor I drove belonged to a fella up the road 2-ish miles South. I’d stop by, make eyes at the farmer’s daughter and drive the “unit” with a bush hog behind. Prolly first post wooden wheels.

    Which brings me to the point George. Borrow the big stuff. Just sayin’

    Egor

    ps – the lake Kraken is loud the last 24 hours. Growing pains before the melt

    • ( “How do we dial back spending without a recession?” If you come up with a solid answer to that, give the White House a ring)

      keeping the noodle moving without it crumbling or ripping apart..touchy situations a rebate would keep it moving temporarily but it isn’t going to fix the growth of the deficits interest rates.. the tariffs going to put greater strain on the economy and move of goods.. just walk through any store.. then glance at the carts others are pushing.. I finally gave the daughter an ultimatum on insurance..each time I tried to reduce it the insurance company re did the policy keeping it at an unsustainable rate.. I flipped on the daughter told her if those assholes can’t fix it..drop all of them immediately.. what do you know she got it fixed or at least down to A sustainable rate in fifteen minutes..
      everyone here is cutting back huge.. that’s less sales from my perspective.. seen carts at Wal-Mart.. all with greatly reduced amounts in their carts.. and its just getting started..

  6. “Can I get back to you next week? Dementia could make this kind of decision-making a lot easier, you know!”

    Dementia 13: Director’s Cut (1963 Movie) Official Trailer

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Lu2G0O3TA

    Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in his feature film directorial debut. The film was produced by Roger Corman for his company The Filmgroup, and released in the United States by American International Pictures during the fall of 1963, as the bottom half of a double feature with Corman’s X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

  7. re: MSNBC. i believe the issue is trump’s apparent hypocrisy in using a young cancer survivor as a media prop when trump is gutting the budgets and laying off workers from the organizations that helped to save that kid’s life.
    what the liberal whiny bitch woke elitist never trumpers lunatic leftist doctors, scientists and researchers have to say
    https://www.aacr.org/about-the-aacr/newsroom/news-releases/aacr-statement-and-call-to-action-regarding-the-administrations-recent-actions-affecting-nih-and-the-american-people/

    • I thought it was a wonderful tribute to a young survivor..it brought tears to my eyes.. I was appalled to see what the Democrats did.. simply appalling..

      • not kissing the king’s ring is appalling to you but cutting funding for cancer research isn’t. got it. thanks!

        • the research is a bunch of grift,,, they will treat the hell out of you but when someone says ‘cure’, the lawyers come to silence them.
          our tax dollars go into that research but all patents do US no good, but profit those who hold the patents, we get screwed, but liddle truth cant see it, he’s got the TDS blindness syndrome.
          but go ahead and defend the fuckers that have been fucking US.
          but then again he is a known foster daughter bather,,, self confessed,,
          I have a problem with pedos, and so does my Bible.
          the bureaucrats, that hobble US at every turn protect pedos also,,, because they is kin
          remember Rick Simpson??? and his cannabis cancer cure
          https://archive.org/details/RUNFROMTHECURE2TRAILER

          clean up the CDC and NIH, they are the cancer in government

        • “Post
          Eric Tilton reposted
          Kevin McKernan
          @Kevin_McKernan
          I would advocate all $1.2B that the NIH has collected in royalty be dedicated to sequencing the vax injured and understanding shedding before they roll out any self amplifying vaccine.
          Treble damages are in order.
          Quote
          Robert W Malone, MD
          @RWMaloneMD
          ·
          Mar 6
          The Moderna royalties being paid to NIAID for their work developing the toxic spike-based mRNA COVID “vaccines” should be used to treat and compensate the vaccine injured. This can be done now, immediately, and can bypass the “indemnity shield” that has been constructed to,,
          Show more”
          https://x.com/Kevin_McKernan/status/1897661669448335506

        • do you have any reliable links to support your assertion that the NIH and CDC are actually the cancer they purport to cure? because your opinion really seems kooky if its unsupported by facts. everything i’ve read by doctors, scientists and researchers says the cuts will be devastating to americans with cancer. i’m sure you know some people who have battled cancer. btw what was your experience with foster kids like – what’d you think of the trainings, background checks, home visits and how many kids did you foster???

          “Trump honored a cancer survivor. The boy’s doctors now face his budget cuts. President Donald Trump honored a child cancer survivor during his joint address to Congress. Medical school faculty who helped treat him are facing potentially devastating federal funding cuts.”
          https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/03/08/trump-nih-cuts-baylor-college/81625680007/

        • Research funding how many years ?
          How much money ?

          Zero Results – 0

          Like dept Ed – massive funding, utter FAILURE in mission/job.

          Less than Zero..Negative UR

      • Looking out of the box : full agreement. Those who pervert what was a touching “call out” are crass operators working their agenda (if they have one, or just anything but the other guy?).

        I suppose the story was unpalatable though, young boy’s “make a wish” story included honoring the police. They are persona non gatta. Ditto the story about a HS Senior going to West Point.

        Our society is increasingly crass and built around the blame game. For some unknown reason the left honors cretins instead of the honorable among us. Argue policy not people IMO.

        To answer re: policy issue(s) by poster “truth” (a misnomer if ever) most government agencies could operate better on short staff. We could easily trim 20-40% of the headcount and be ahead.

        And, those displaced Federal workers can learn to code! [a Brandon, after idling thousands of pipeline workers at outset of his abominable administration.

        Got anything else “truth”? What’s next?
        Whing away (as if you’d stop)
        Egor

        • Amen….total agreement ….
          I have taken care of people that have fought the battle of brain cancer.. I have a daughter that had an orange sized tumor removed from near her stem.. seen the affects of brain cancer the fight that young man has gone through is a huge one..what Trump did honoring that young man is a true tribute to his human side.. god bless.. I hope that young man lives a long life and this memory will be a highlight…

      • I bought it on DVD, and Petticoat Junction as well, last year. Did you know the girls of Petticoat Junction could sing? They put out an album in the late ’60s.

  9. (“Inquiring minds want to know: How does someone become a multi-multi-multi millionaire while “serving the people?” Elon Musk on X: “Where did Senator Karen get $67 million?” )

    lol you know they could have just found it buried in the backyard in jars lol lol lol or maybe she is a talented artist like H.B. where she smears her S@#T on a piece of paper…lol lol lol
    https://www.quiverquant.com/congress-live-net-worth/

  10. Jorge, conoces, tu libro is quite the involvementimiento with Trump’s tariffs project. Which BTW has to be long term till people get the mensaje.

    I was reminded of this just now with the failure of a high end Chinese wall fan. It’s generally well made, but the chain pull switch just died. And, as I was Sawzalling the back off rather than take the whole thing apart…

    I realized that if this were made in the USA it would probably have been better thought out by more expensive people and not have failed. The whole idea of failing equipment (nothing personal) is intimately related to where it is manufactured.

    • As a high-tech maintenance guy, it has long been my desire to torture a ‘design engineer’ to death by forcing him to fix and maintain his own terrible designs!

      …like a car where you have to remove the whole engine to replace the spark plugs.

      • Oh, that’s silly. If’fn I had one o’ them that cars, I’d just cut out the firewall and make myself an access panel…

        The first one of these I ever worked on was an Olds Omega with an electromechanical carburetor and a transverse V-6. It completely, permanently soured me on both Rochester electronic carbs and GM FWD cars. You could pull exactly one of the rear bank without unbolting the engine from its motor mounts and dropping/rotating it with a jack, provided you had enough extensions and universal joints. Later GM products became progressively, successively worse to work on. Transverse-mounted engines are one of the best reasons to buy a pickup truck…

      • Lol lol lol … I hear ya on that one..use to be you could change your own oil …lol lol lol now you have to be a contortionist the get near the filter…lol lol lol

    • I made the comment here, probably 15 years ago, that the Chinese made the best LEDs in the world but their flashlights suck, because they can’t manufacture a switch. That’s not AS TRUE today. Coast brought their CREE illuminators to a U.S. factory, and companies like Olight and Fenix (which I think are still Chinese) either figured out how to make a switch or began sourcing them from the U.S. or Germany. Switches are very low-tech. Because of that, not everybody puts the thought and engineering into them that McGill or Cutler-Hammer used to…

      BTW, there’s now a cottage industry, R&Ring toggle switches from back in the day, when they used silver or plated bronze contacts.

      • I am blind in one eye and sight problems in the other.. my headlights on the car really the brightest ones they sell for autos…everyone hates me if I drive at night..I actually drove off the road because I couldn’t see the road..which tells you why I don’t drive after dark..but I have head lamps.. these light up the whole yard so I can take the dog out at night to go potty.. best things ever..the ones I get are fairly bright..well worth the money to invest in them..

  11. Had to go up to Walmart.., only place in the entire area that sells Neem Oil [ the vegetable gardeners’ friend ] In and out at record time.

    Just as I was ’bout to climb back into the trusty steed I saw a guy come out the main entrance. Had to be easily, in his 90’s. Skinny as a fence post. Clothes hung on him like a scare crow. White beard. Baseball cap so beat-up and stained you couldn’t read the word on it. Work boots that should have gone to the land fill in the last ice age. He was balancing-on and pushing a cart.., in the cart was one thing. A 24 pack of Schlitz Beer. [ Didn’t know they still made that stuff.] That was it. And he had a great little smile on his face. He was ’bout to have a great day !

    America at it’s best.

    Made me smile.

    • Schlitz ? were they giving it away ?

      My Pop drank Ballentine..occasionally. Worst tasting weasel piss I ever stole . Would not ever steal another single bottle from case of returnables in basement..Ever, it was that bad.
      Thankfully I grew up in a College town..frats, rugby games, football tailgating. How I started my Beer Can Collection in the 70’s, as well as learning how to Drink Beerz.

      I dont drink often, but when I do..
      locally beer sux, cant import from Mex or Guat. – must smuggle or go Hobbs-Brew Barge..https://www.facebook.com/hobbsbrewbelize/

    • LOL! And Neem oil is great stuff for keeping the parasites off the fruit trees. That mixed with some liquid peppermint soap. I use it regularly here.

    • Ah, the good ol’ ’60s — when Schlitz went from a super-premium to unpalatable pisswater in less than a decade. After dominating Budweiser for decades, Saint Looie finally overtook Milwaukee. If’fn you read the sanitized crap on the ‘Net, you’ll see where the Libs of Wackypedia put Schlitz’ demise down to their “Drink Schlitz or I’ll kill you” ad campaign. This didn’t help, but the real reason was after they lost their crown to Bud, the idiots running the company decided they should undercut Budweiser, so they began cheapening their brew. Schlitz went away when it became worse than Blatz. After going out of business, PBR bought the brewery, lock, stock, and ageing crocks.

      I had heard a couple years ago that Pabst was bringing it back. I hope they used Schlitz’ original recipe…

    • it was a wed morning before sun up, and I am shaken awake by my father, as I was still in grade school, back then
      “lets go hunting ” he says, I reply, “I have school”
      “fuck school, lets go hunting”
      Up I bounce and off we go 27 miles south and east , cousins and uncles have wheat farms, bad day for hunting, no pheasants, guns put away and out comes the 6 pack,,, 5 adults and me, I look at dad and ask,,, sure he says as he hands me my first beer,, I had many tastes, but this was my can.
      the whole can,,,,Hamms,,, no shitz
      but a good memory with my father.

      • “From the land of Sky Blue Waters…. Hamms”. I miss the Hamms Bear commercials. They had the neatest animated scenic signs in the bars ‘up north’.

    • My Consigliere Earl and I would have a Schlitz while solving er discussing world events. I miss him and my Dad a lot and the world is going to hell rather quickly.

    • DLynn:

      Back in the day, Schlitz was a very good beer – I remember touring the plant in Milwaukee in Sept of 1964. The beer served there was great compared to the crap you can get in the store. Two comments here-
      A. Our illustrious Fed Govt was starting to require that all beer leaving the plant be pasteurized – kills the product. It’s the politicians that need to be pasteurized!
      B. Transit in um-refrigerated trucks finishes the kill-job on the beer.
      I never forgot that experience- the “enemy is the politicians”. They get paid (bribes) to make one product look good at the expense of the “competition”. Our tax dollars at work!
      Go long on rope!

  12. Every time I get the bug to buy some capital goods, I get sticker shock and stop. My capital projects are mostly on hold. I have convinced myself to trade SUV’s fairly frequently, to avoid getting too far behind on trade cost in a hyperinflation environment, but I probably will start tailing off on that in the next couple of years, if the inflation rate doesn’t go exponential again (and again).
    I am not a minimalist, but I have been cleaning out stuff that I will never use again, that has no real value. I threw out three skillets and a wok, all with gnarly TFE coatings this week. I have a couple of indoor/outdoor folding skillets and pots in good condition which have become my primaries.
    This weekend will be old magazine weekend, I think. I also have to reassemble my front end loader. A couple of hundred for a new seal installed on a lift cylinder beats $30,000 for an underpowered turbo maintenance nightmare.

    • A couple months ago I bought a half-case (um, that’d be three) of new, NEC 27″ monitors. They were $17.68 each:

      NEC EA271Q-BK Monitor $17.68 3 $53.04
      Subtotal $53.04
      Shipping & Handling $26.52

      I thought 80 bucks was almost reasonable…

  13. “And perhaps to wrap the week, a note on how the “butterfly has fluttered by”? Butterfly populations declining rapidly in U.S. with 22% disappearing in 2 decades, study finds.”

    “One of the most striking examples is the monarch butterfly. In December 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the monarch under the Endangered Species Act, saying the species’ eastern population has declined by about 80% and the western population has dropped by more than 95% since the 1980s. ”

    The Monarch Butterfly is seasonally-migratory. It summers from CONUS to Hudson’s Bay and Nome, and it winters in Southern Mexico. In a report released this week Mexico’s equivalent to our EPA noted that the Monarch population has doubled from last year to this year, so it’s likely butterfly relief is on the way…

    • Onof the main reasons for the Monarch demise is the logging that was done in their winter habitat. That is now stopped and very illegal. You can now go to prison for decades if they catch you logging in that area.

      A couple of years back four loggers were executed by an Army patrol for illegal logging.

    • Have you taken a look at the ongoing aerial spraying to control the totally bogus “climate change” issue?
      I don’t know about butterflies, but here in SE Louisiana two years ago we had one of those “chemical frosts” in April and all my trees are now dying (none of these were mature trees). I’m beginning to wonder if my garden will produce anything worthwhile this year!

  14. “Nothing runs like a Deere”

    5060e looks like the purrfect tractor -https://johndeere.widen.net/s/nkjqt8w6nh/202206_2543306_5e-cab-update-pod-brochure

    Now I know youse be a hands on kinda guy, so I wanna give youse the puppydog close. Come on down to Ure local Ag and Turf store and take one home for a week or so, we’ll leave the lights on for ya.

    Whats in Ure wallet ? Flip a “coin” and bee riding in style..wit GPS auto pilot..whatwhatwhat?

    Gotta be some one selling a Good used tractor – Used high end baby, how I drove “NICE” cars during Sales career on a budget. “oh I must be in the front row!”

    Deere Trade In val. versus GU Cash deal…hmmm

    • If you find a good used tractor it’s usually because someone with idiot heirs died. No such animal. There has to be something wrong with the tractor or the seller before it will be sold. My tractor is a hand-me-down parts tractor which came from a notorious junk tractor refurbisher. It was a bastardized relic when it came on the property, and is still running 30 or so years later. The main issue is figuring out which series parts to use when it breaks. The back and the front don’t match exactly. And the cowling matches neither.

  15. re: “inquiring minds…”

    Folks,
    The “Wikipedia” page for the US Treasury Secretary offers helpful enlightenment. His cv outline alleges his being partner of an originally Soros-founded “investment management firm”. By coincidence, the “Wiki” page goes on to explain about the entity allegedly being a player in client flows of funds in a 2016 merger between two companies. The two companies were allegedly headed respectively by the Artful Doger and one of his cousins.

  16. n____’s post (above) prompted me, so (still recuperating from the broken ribs) I figured I’d type out another little “how-to…”

    When I go to Wal-Mart (or Meijer, or Lowes, or BestBuy, or any place else that sells, pretty much anything) I get hit with sticker shock.

    A body has to learn to search.

    This means both learning how to word a search for optimum results, and also how to “learn the language” each search engine uses, when Google is appropriate (most of the time) and more-importantly, when it’s not. In all cases, one must learn how to use logical operands to conduct a Boolean search. I have “cheat sheets” I’ve made up for Qwant, Dogpile (Metacrawler), and others. I have the search syntax memorized for Google and eBay, and I have notes on which engines don’t accept operands and default to .AND. search terms or, like Amazon, both default to .AND..OR..NEAR. and apply a really dumb AI to each search word or term (irrespective of the logical syntax one tries to use) to generate both synonyms and words whose spelling is close “but not identical” to EACH WORD you spelled out (.NEAR. on steroids) in the search box (this is why you can search a specific part number and manufacturer, and get nine pages of hits.) Amazon’s model dictates that the more crap they can throw in front of the viewer, the more-likely they are to make a sale, even if it’s a spontaneous or suggestive sale.

    I showed y’all how to run a search on Amazon that was limited to stuff that was “made in USA ONLY.” My next “helpful hint” is:

    Do you realize you can use Google’s “site search” to search Amazon or Craigslist? For example, say you live in Orange County and need to do a clean-up or ten in Pacific Palisades. You need a trailer. They’re unobtanium in your neighborhood. What do you do? Maybe there’s one in Sacramento? The search would be: trailer site:sacramento.craigslist.org and the query string would be:

    https://www.google.com/search?q=trailer+site:sacramento.craigslist.org

    You can search any single Craigslist site, or all of ’em (by not specifying a locale and just searching “craigslist.org.”)

    The advantage you gain with Amazon is not having to deal with as much of their .AND..NEAR. search BS as you would, using Amazon Search.

    It doesn’t work so well on eBay, because eBay uses a single, giant database for queries, so you might get a hit on ebay.fr or ebay.es or ebay.sg or ebay.co (UK) and Google will report the hit as being at “ebay.com,” even if the seller only sells locally or in their own country, or the item sold several weeks ago (haven’t figured out who’s keeping the cache.) I have eBay accounts in about a dozen different countries and deal in local currencies and with local courier/delivery agents. That sounds complicated, but it’s actually simpler, considering the idiosyncrasies of the eBay search engine. The trick there is to have Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, Shopify, etc., so you can make a purchase in a foreign land, in an acceptable currency, and with some kind of transaction guarantee or fraud protection…

  17. A note on Green Machines: The 1000, 2000, and 3000 series tractors are essentially the same beast, with different tires. As of two years ago they were all rated @24hp. This is because at 25hp you have to add the piss bottle and the machine falls under a whole bunch of EPA regs that’re both expensive and not conducive to efficient tractoring. I have heard rumors the tractors (especially the 2000 and 3000 series) could be souped-up into the 36 to 40- or 50-something HP range but can neither confirm nor deny exactly whether warranties can be voided in such a manner…

  18. G, and other gullible cultists, your hero is again feeding you a trough of lies, ‘Musk, where did Sen Karen get $67 million? Total fake crap, but you’ll eat it up all day long!
    https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/feb/18/tweets/x-post-exaggerates-wealth-of-nancy-pelosi-mitch-mc/

    ‘Warren reported that the value of her assets in 2023 ranged from about $4 million to more than $9 million. Two assets held by Warren’s husband, Bruce Mann, had a value of at least $1 million with no maximum value disclosed, so Warren’s household net worth could be higher. Warren reported no liabilities. The X post exaggerated her net worth by about $58 million.

    Warren’s spokesperson said the $67 million number is inaccurate and referred PolitiFact to Warren’s public financial disclosure reports.’

    • 1, Dear God, here we go again. Did you happen to realize Politifact is partisan? LEFT-CENTER BIAS
      https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/politifact/
      2, Do you understand “Structuring?” It’s when a person is in a household which makes a shitload of money as in https://lifestyle-mma.com/elizabeth-warren-net-worth-inside-her-82-million-wealth-and-controversies/ but by structuring the income only had to REPORT 7.9 million in 2018: https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/elizabeth-warren/net-worth?cid=N00033492

      Please, stop shopping bullshit controversy to people here who are equally adroit at citing data to support their politics!

      You don’t like Trump or Musk. That is very clear. Have fun. Your choice. Bankrupting America is not on OUR agenda, hwoever.

      • You’ve got a big problem with accepting facts, instead preferring your alternate echo chamber universe..
        https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/02/elizabeth-warren-senator-massachusetts-net-worth-fact-brief/
        ‘U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from western Wisconsin, shared in a Jan. 31, 2024, social media post a Dec. 21 article that listed, without source information, Warren’s net worth at $73 million.

        The article was by CAknowledge. Fact checkers have found the site has drastically overstated the net worth of other political figures.

        TheStreet.com on Dec. 18 estimated Warren’s net worth at $7.5 million. The figure was based on estimates from the homes she shares with her husband, proceeds from her book sales, savings and other assets.’

        • You are so much fun to play with, lol.
          Why would Wisconisn Watch care about elizabeth Warren? Doesn’t she represent (liberal) Massachusets?
          ?Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news outlet that aims to increase the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, fostering an informed citizenry and strengthening democracy. However, AllSides, a media bias rating organization, assigns Wisconsin Watch a “Lean Left” bias rating, indicating that its reporting moderately aligns with liberal perspectives. Therefore, while Wisconsin Watch identifies as nonpartisan, some media analysts perceive a slight liberal bias in its reporting.?

          Oh, but wait…they did find a source for $73 million, a year go. that source is https://www.caknowledge.net/elizabeth-warren-net-worth-salary/
          Guess the voters of Messychewsets don’t care about a purported $13 million home in OK?
          Oh, of course they got other politician net worth wrong. But there’s enough detail there that the reelection in Massachusets could be interesting if there’s anything to such reports. thanks for bringing it to our attention, as always.

  19. “On the other hand, at 76, do I really have much use for a new tractor?”

    Well, at 83 I’m getting tired of having my wife use the truck to pull my 36 hp Long 2-wheel drive out of the mud… or out of the ditch if I go nose down and can’t back out. Yeah, I know the “tractor magic”, but then I have to dump what’s in the bucket to use the bucket to unstick me. I’d kinda like to have the opportunity to stick a 4-wheel drive tractor. That must take some real talent!

    • ISTM a 30-, 40-, or 60-thousand pound winch would be a better answer (and much cheaper), unless you’re in that part of the Midwest where it’s flat for miles and they don’t grow border trees next to their fields…

    • Hank in Hawaii,

      Thank you for the link. Alas, if only Mr. Meucci’s attorney hadn’t allegedly “erased” critical inventor notes from the patent caveat of his device! Maybe the inventor’s having given prior extended room and board at his cottage in Staten Island to the great left-wing socialist Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi also created issues.

  21. I’m guessing Monsewer (sic) Trudeau flunked his prep school economics class…?

    BRICS News
    @BRICSinfo

    JUST IN: China imposes 100% tariffs on select Canadian imports.

    On March 8, 2025, China announced it would impose retaliatory tariffs on certain Canadian imports in response to Canada’s earlier tariffs on Chinese goods. Effective from March 20, China will apply a 100% tariff on rapeseed oil, oil cakes, and peas, and a 25% tariff on aquatic products and pork from Canada. This move comes amid escalating trade tensions between the two countries, reflecting a broader international pattern of retaliatory economic measures.

    https://x.com/i/trending/1898206312925675902

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